Crex: Captured by Aliens, Book 2 by A.G. Wilde

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There are two types of hell.

The one priests preach about and then this.

Stuck on an alien slave ship, Piper is auctioned and thrown into a cell with…something.

He’s an alien with a reputation.

A warrior. A beast. A killer.

He is dangerous.

A creature with a cold, cold heart…one not unlike her own.

You’d think falling for an alien killing machine was something so far-fetched it would never happen.

Well, so was being abducted out of 7.5 billion other humans on Earth – and that had occurred so…

Hey, what’s the worst that could happen?

Crex

A Fierce Heroine Meets the Perfect Alien Warrior

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💛💚❤️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: 😋🙂😁😛🥰
Narrator(s): 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration type: Solo Narration

Character Backgrounds and Plot Summary

After finishing Xul, I was eager to see Piper get her own story because she had already endured so much. She is still carrying the grief of losing her sister after their abduction, and that anger becomes one of the driving forces behind her decisions. Instead of breaking her, captivity has made her determined to survive and fight back whenever she gets the chance. When she is thrown into a prison cell with Crex, she expects the terrifying warrior’s reputation to be true. The captors clearly expect him to either kill her or claim her, but the first real surprise is that he refuses to harm her. That moment immediately changed the dynamic for me because it showed there was much more to Crex than the fear surrounding his name.

Crex is on his own mission against the aliens responsible for so much suffering, yet Piper quickly becomes more important than his original objective. I especially enjoyed watching the relationship develop after they escaped the prison ship. Their struggle to survive on the hostile planet, facing dangerous predators while searching for a way off the world, gave their romance room to grow naturally instead of relying only on attraction.

Highlights and Limitations

My favorite part of the book was seeing Piper remain strong without becoming reckless just for the sake of drama. She refuses to let fear define her, and I liked that she slowly learned to trust Crex because of his actions rather than his words. Every time he stepped between her and another threat, whether it was hostile guards or the deadly wildlife they encountered after escaping, their bond felt more believable.

The survival scenes were some of the most memorable parts of the story. I particularly enjoyed the encounters with the massive alien creatures because they kept the tension high while giving Crex plenty of opportunities to show why everyone feared him. At the same time, those moments also revealed his protective side, which made him much more interesting than the ruthless warrior he first appeared to be.

If I had one complaint, it would be that Piper’s grief over losing her sister sometimes felt like it deserved more page time. It is an important part of who she is, and I would have liked to see a little more emotional processing before the story shifted fully into the romance. Even so, I found myself invested in both characters and wanted to see them earn a happy ending.

Narration

B.N. Love once again delivered a performance that fit the series well. Piper’s fear, frustration, and determination all came across clearly, and I never had trouble telling when her emotions shifted. Crex’s quieter, more controlled personality also translated well into the narration. I appreciated that the emotional scenes were not overacted, while the action sequences still maintained a strong sense of urgency. The pacing kept me engaged from beginning to end.

Final Opinion

I ended up enjoying Crex even more than I expected. The combination of forced proximity, survival, and slow building trust worked really well for me. Crex proved to be far more compassionate than his reputation suggested, while Piper never stopped feeling like a capable heroine despite everything she had endured. Their relationship developed through shared danger and mutual respect, which made the romance satisfying.

This series continues to balance action, alien adventure, and romance in a way that keeps me wanting the next book. If you enjoy protective alien heroes, resilient heroines, and romances that grow through genuine partnership instead of instant devotion, I think this audiobook is well worth the listen.

Blog|Goodreads|Facebook|Instagram|Pinterest|BookBub



View all my reviews